I can't say for sure, but I think the "book" rate on this is about 1 hour
(even if really does take 20 minutes).  But, bleeding the system has its
own labor charge.

This reminds me of a situation I had with a Volvo and a broken timing belt
in Baltimore.  Without many options, I walked to a mechanic across the
road, and he offered to tow it for free (1/2 mile).  I suspected that he
might try to overcharge me on the repair bill.  Since he couldn't do it
for  acouple of days, I went to a Firestone shop (of all places) where
they photocopied the page showing the labor charge for a 1976 volvo timing
belt.  The labor was supposed to be 1 or 1.1 hours.  When I went to pick
up the volvo, the shop owner charged 3 hours for the job.  There were no
other repairs made, and he tried to justify it by saying that his mechanic
was kind of new and it took him a while to figure out how to do it right.
After some haggling, the owner agreed to charge the book rate.  AFter
haggling for 20 minutes, I think that he was glad to see me leave.

That enough non-vanagon talk for now.

David

On Wed, 13 Sep 2000, 1980 VW Westfalia "Pokey" wrote:

> Valle Shell in Orillia is replacing Pokey's clutch slave cylinder (I provided the part). What is a fair number of hours to charge for this repair? I'm assuming they'd also have to bleed hydraulic system as well. Should they charge me to diagnose the problem (I pointed out that I thought it was hydraulic related)?
>
> Thanks,
> Chris Gronski
> Toronto, Ontario,
> '80 Westy "Pokey"
> '87 Chevrolet Sprint 5-Door
> '91 Pontiac Firefly Convertible
>